Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Here are a few things we know. We know that children living in emergency accommodation, such as hotel rooms, learn to crawl later and learn to walk later than children living in homes with any bit of space. We know that some children living in homeless accommodation start speaking at a later age than other children due to the trauma of losing their homes. We know that thousands of households have notices to quit, NTQs, against them, that the majority of local authorities are out of emergency accommodations, that many people with NTQs will be forced into emergency accommodation or couch-surfing, and that many of these households have children.

We now also know that, shockingly, the Government has decided to fire the starting gun for these evictions to happen.

The Government can spin this whichever way it wants but it is clear that the Taoiseach and his Government believe that there is an acceptable level of homelessness and of damage that can be done to these children.

The left in Irish politics has long argued that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are Ireland’s Tory parties. These parties have equally long denied this but at 4.40 p.m. today, or shortly after, it will be clear for all to see. The Taoiseach and his Deputies will vote for a policy which would be applauded by any free market extremist anywhere in the world and supported by any hard right government anywhere in the world also.

There has been much talk of safety nets in the past 24 hours but the real safety net is the one being provided for the Government by the Regional Group of Independents who might, by the way, consider changing their name to the right-wing independents. By choosing to support the Government in its hour of need rather than renters in their hour of need, these Deputies will place a mark of shame against their names which will not fade out for many years to come.

Of course, the party with the most colourful name in Irish politics is the Green Party. Renters across the country will no doubt use somewhat colourful language to describe that party and its actions after this vote because the Green Party is not only showing its true colours this afternoon but is nailing those colours to the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael mast, on the side of the landlords and the men and women who will evict little children into homelessness in the weeks and months ahead. That is the truth of the matter.

Tradition dictates that I end this contribution with a question so I will simply ask the Taoiseach this. What will he say to the parents of the children facing eviction into homelessness after he casts his vote at 4.40 p.m today?

See this speech in context